Puella Magi Maria Magica
by DunnlPenitentiaryLitProgram
Summary: What if Madoka but in Mexico.
1. A Raw Deal

The sun shone brightly in the horizon, through the faint veil of pollution above Mexico City, showering the tall glass buildings and the filthy gray streets alike with golden rays. The news warned that it would be another unbearably hot day in the capital, and that people should prepare for heavy traffic.

The news moved on to the usual: 7 police officers were killed during an ambush in Guerrero, 27 bodies were found dismembered in Culiacan inside of a truck, the bodies of three women reported missing a week ago were found with signs of torture in Edomex, a merchant had been executed in front of his house right there in Mexico City, and so on.

Every morning Maria heard the same news repeated over and over again as she had breakfast with her family. Sometimes she would feel a vague sense of dread that would dissipate through the day or after hearing the reassurances of her family that everything would be alright, most of the time however, the brutal world of the news fell on deaf ears.

"No way! Are you really going to do it today?" A voice note from her best friend, Sofia, played loudly in in the kitchen "Aren't you afraid that he'll say no?"

With an excitement that she could barely keep in check, Maria started recording her reply, "Yeah! But it's like my dad always says, better to try and fail than to not try at all."

She put the phone away and finished eating her breakfast before heading to the bathroom to wash her teeth and her face. She prepared for the coming day, styling her shinny long black hair and applying subtle make up on her gentle looking , soft brown face , every now and then checking her phone for updates on the meaningless trivialities that composed her life.

"Hurry up kid, or I'll leave without you!" her father called her from the living room, "Can't you check your phone when you're done?"

"Sorry dad! I'm almost done" she replied with enthusiasm. She took one final look at the mirror, her appearance betrayed her comfortable lifestyle; her uniform her favorable economic position.

Before leaving, her mother, who was instructing the housemaid on the chores for the day, called her over and gave her a hug, crossed her and kissed her on the forehead, wishing her a good day. Her mother was a businesswoman, her father a dentist, both had a decent income.

While most kids her age attended overcrowded public schools that barely taught what was needed to get an approbatory grade, she instead had been going to a private "institute" that taught foreign languages since she was 2 years old. She had practically grown up in one of the safest environments possible, surrounded by likeminded people who also lived so far away from the rotting streets of Mexico they might as well live on another planet.

.It wasn't hard to see how a simple minded person like her could forget what the world outside her four walls was like, but every morning, as she went to school, under the same traffic light, she saw the biggest reminder.

"Hey, dad"

"What is it honey?"

"Why are there so many people on the street?"

"Because they don't know what getting a real job means, or what is a condom."

"Come on, dad, don't say that …"

"But it's the truth. Poverty goes hand in hand with plain old laziness. Most of those people are poor because they want to, or because they fried their brains with drugs."

"That can't be true of all of them, for example, what about those kids back there? They don't even have parents, how could they escape this?"

"Well…it's true that there's not much they can do. But well, you shouldn't worry about things like that; instead, you should be worrying about yourself!"

"I don't like this… there has to be something people can do, besides just ignoring it."

"Look, if it worries you that much, study a lot and when you grow up maybe you can do something for this country… because even with all the money in the world, you wouldn't be able to help those people. Believe me when I tell you that most of them just don't want to help themselves."

"Do you really think there's no hope at all for them?"

"It's not that it's all hopeless, it's that they don't want to hang onto any hopes at all."

"I just wish someone could do something about it… that people could work together instead of just thinking of themselves."

"Don't worry sweetheart, you'll outgrow this soon enough."

They finally arrived at school and her father left her right in the entrance of the massive looking institute, several other children of all ages descending from a variety of luxurious cars or the school transport. In the distance, two men inside of a red Sedan stared at Maria, sending messages from a Blackberry.

The moment she stepped into her classroom and Sofia ran up to her, she forgot all about her conversation with her dad.

"Are you sure you'll do it today?" Sofia's fair face radiated with enthusiasm "He's right over there, you know."

"Nothing ventured, nothing gained" she replied with absolute confidence "Besides, what's the worst that could happen? Shouldn't he feel lucky that I'm going through all this trouble?"

Two more of her friends suddenly rushed to her, both of them equally excited.

"You go, girl!" one of them exclaimed "Going for the hottest guy in class? That takes some marbles!"

"Yeah, don't let this prude discourage you" the other one said, pointing at Sofia "I'd try to get in his pants as fast as I could if I were you."

"I'm not saying anything like that!" Sofia replied, tired of being constantly harassed for her religious devotion, "But… you won't go that far, will you?"

"Oh, there she goes again!" the other friend said, "If you can get guys, I say you should have some fun."

"Come on, guys" Maria said with an awkward smile, feeling embarrassed as well as trying to lighten up the tension between her friends, "Let's see if he says yes first, ok?"

The teacher entered the class and Maria went to her seat, next to Sofia's. They both had been together since kindergarten, and despite all of her friends' callous words and accusations, she wouldn't let it get between their friendship.

School went on as normal, in the end, even though the guy she was after heard all about it and even tried to approach her, Maria chickened out and postponed her great step forward, disappointing all of her friends except for one.

"There's no hurry, right?" Sofia said as they both walked towards the exit, "I mean, you don't even have to do this now at all, you know."

"I know, actually I don't think I care about this whole boyfriend thing that much… but I just feel angry with myself. I hate being such a wuss."

"Aw come on! You don't even have to do this if you don't want to. It's nothing."

"You know what? I'll do it tomorrow, just to prove to myself that I can!"

"Well that's fine but… just, just don't do…you know."

"Oh, yeah right! Like it's that simple. Don't worry, those girls are just crazy."

Her phone rang, it was her mother. They both said goodbye and Maria headed out of school, then climbed into her mother's car. The red Sedan, which had been parked all that time, began following them.

"How was your day, kid? Did you do you-know-what?"

"Nah… I chickened out."

Her mother let out a small laugh "It's better this way, you're still too young, but who knows, maybe it would be better for you to mess up now than later. Just remember, no funny business, or if you absolutely must-"

"You sound like the girls at school!" she interrupted, feeling flustered and slightly annoyed "What? Does everyone only think of that or what?"

"I'm just joking"" Her mother replied as she took a turn on an empty street, a shortcut she took every day and that the men behind them knew about, "Don't tell your father I said that though, he doesn't like the kind of joking I make."

"It seems that everyone only thinks of that, but you know, I have other things in my mind, more important things!"

Neither of them found odd that parked black car immediately positioned itself in front of them, they also didn't notice that the men in the red Sedan were speaking on the phone, looking quite nervous.

"Yeah? Like what?"

"That world sucks and I wish there was a way of making it suck less."

Her mother laughed a little "Oh Maria… there you go again, I guess you're in that age. It's not good to think about stuff like that. You'll age faster if you-"

The car in front of them stopped abruptly, forcing Maria's mother to hit the brakes, almost crashing into it. Before either of them could react, two men descended from the car in the front and one from the red car behind them, all of them carrying guns.

"Get the fuck off the car" one of the men barked as he shoved a loaded pistol into Maria's face. The doors were opened from the outside by the men, who dragged both of them out of the car "Hurry the fuck up. Don't make a noise or I'll blow your brains out."

Maria couldn't speak, her mind struggled to keep up with the situation, everything was happening so fast that it almost felt like it wasn't happening at all. Her mother said something she couldn't understand and they were both shoved into the back of the car, two men sitting to their side as another one started driving.

"Give me your fucking phones, hurry up bitches! Don't look at me or I'll break your god damn nose."

Maria's hand trembled uncontrollably as her entire being was consumed with terror. Her eyes were shut tight as she clutched the equally trembling hand of her mother. Their captors drove for minutes that felt like hours to an unknown destination.

Black bags were abruptly wrapped around both of their heads, making Maria scream.

"No!" her mother screamed as well "Not my daughter! Please! My—"

"Shut the fuck up!" one of the men barked after hitting Maria's mother right in her face with the grip of the gun "Keep quiet or I'll knock her teeth off."

They were both dragged out of the car and into a cold and dark building. Maria was shoved through several rooms and finally had her hands and legs tied with tape, her eyes covered with a scarf tied around her head. She was violently thrown against the floor, hitting her head hard.

"Don't do anything stupid, don't even fucking move or I'll bash your brains out."

Maria could only produce a fearful whimper. The man began speaking.

"We got your kid and your wife. I want the money in 20 minutes or I'll send them back to you in pieces, you hear?"

"No!" Maria couldn't contain her terror anymore, she began weeping, "Please... please don't hurt me…"

"It's up to you, asshole. You decide if you let your kid die."

The door was slammed shut, leaving Maria alone, breaking into tears and consumed by fear.

"Our father who art in heaven, blessed be…no… no please… help me …save me…"

As she sank deep into despair, a voice rang from inside of her head.

"You are in grave danger. I don't think those men will let you go, even if your father pays."

She stopped crying, her breathing froze.

"I can help you, I can get you out of here without any trouble."

"Who are you? Where…where are you?" Maria muttered with fear and faint hope.

The scarf was removed from her eyes by a bizarre creature sitting in front of her. It was completely white save for its penetrating red eyes, about as big as a cat or a small dog, but unlike any animal she had seen before. She took a look at her surroundings, illuminated meekly by a yellowish bulb: a filthy bathroom without any windows, no way to escape. Once again she was seized by uncontrollable panic.

"My name is Kyubey, I'm a messenger of magic, and I can grant you any wish you have."

"What?"

"I can grant you anything you wish, in exchange, you'll become a Puella Magi. You'll be capable of things beyond human capacity; you could achieve so much more than you could as a normal human being…"

Maria couldn't fully understand what the creature meant, but her desperation blindly pushed her onwards "Yes! Yes please! I'll do whatever you want just-"

"I'm not fucking around!" Right outside of the door a bloodcurdling voice shouted angrily "I'm not negotiating you stupid motherfucker. It's the life of your fucking family worth so little? Don't you love your daughter or what? You're going to tell her yourself she got fucked up because of you, because her dad is a piece of shit."

Maria let out a whimper.

"Hurry! Make your wish before-"

The door opened before Kyubey could finish speaking. Two men stood behind the door. The man in front was holding Maria's phone on one hand and on the other a pair of sharp pliers. In the hateful face of the man, in its cruel features, Maria saw Hell itself: there was no mercy, no humanity in the eyes that fixated on hers. It was a monster, a blood thirsty, insane monster.

Before the monster roared in anger, furious at his victim for seeing his face, before he could walk up to her to inflict unimaginable torments, Maria let out an almost guttural shriek from the depths of her soul, conjuring all the power she had left in her broken mind.

"Help!"

A flash of light blinded her and both of her captors. The light enveloped her body in its totality and Maria stopped feeling everything, all she could perceive was the light and Kyubey's voice, emerging from inside of her mind.

"Your soul is weak, but it hides a great potential. It must be the terror that has weakened your spirit, but I know that once you collect your thoughts you'll be able to achieve great things. For now, let your heart and your soul heal and grow stronger…"

The light slowly faded away. Maria could feel her body once again; she was lying on top of soft grass. She didn't want to move but she could tell her arms and legs were unbound. Staring at the reddish evening above her, looking at a cloud that passed right above her, she could register movement around her, but she didn't want to turn her head.

"Sir! Sir come quickly!" she heard a man say somewhere around her. Her mind felt a pang of fear, but she simply couldn't move. Several men approached her, all of them with looks of surprise, some of them wearing police uniforms.

"Maria!" It was her father's voice, a tone of desperation and total abandon in the usually firm and strong voice "Maria! Oh my god! Maria... My girl…"

Her father broke down in tears as he hugged his catatonic daughter. The officers began making calls and hurriedly moving around, unable to understand what had just happened.

She was back home, lying in her garden, her father hugged her and cried without respite.

"It's a miracle…a miracle…"

In the distance, shrouded by the shadows of evening, the incubator stared at the scene.


	2. Nightmare

Maria slowly opened her eyes, she was lying on top of her bed, covered by a blanket and still wearing her dirty school uniform. Her father was asleep on a chair beside her bed, with his hand on top of hers.

Her mind slowly began pulling itself together, her head quickly became occupied with questions but she felt numb and relaxed. She looked around feeling dizzy, pleasantly confused.

A wonderful feeling of relief washed over her, she couldn't remember what had happened, but she felt as if she had woken up from a terrible dream.

"…dad?" she weakly called from her bed "What are you doing here?"

Her father woke up with a start, clutching her hand as he opened his eyes, "Maria! Maria… oh god…" he hugged her tightly and began crying again, unable to contain his emotion, "It's okay, you're safe now, you're safe."

"Don't cry, dad" she softly said, her thoughts still disperse and incoherent, "It's okay, everything is going to be okay."

"I know darling, everything's going to be okay… I promise…" the man continued, still crying.

"Why are you crying?"

"Because I'm happy that I can hold you in my arms again. I love you so much sweetheart."

"I love you too, dad."

A man knocked on the door and then opened shortly afterwards, it was a police officer.

"Sir, can you please come with me for a moment?"

"I'll be right over… honey, please stay in bed. If you need something just call me, ok? I'll be downstairs."

Her father gave her a brand new phone and a piece of paper with his phone number despite the fact she had known it by heart for years. Maria lied in bed and checked the time, it was noon.

She slowly sat up, rubbing her eyes and feeling groggy. Her first thought was checking her phone, but all her accounts and contacts were gone. She decided to reach for the controller of her TV on her drawer, when she was surprised by the presence of a bizarre looking plush toy, completely white save for its penetrating red eyes. In front of it, there was a shiny gem-like object.

"You're finally awake. I was afraid the shock had been too much. Are you feeling alright, Maria?"

She was speechless; her mind was racing, twisting, as if resisting returning her to reality. She clutched the bed sheet in trembling hands, afraid to pronounce the first word that had come to her mind.

"K…Kyubey?"

"Yes Maria, very well. You remember my name, that's a good start."

Maria's mind reeled as memories flooded her, horrifying visions sent a chill down her spine, then she was hit with a bleak thought.

"My mom…my mom!"

"Calm down Maria! Calm down! Your mind is still recovering, you mustn't push yourself"

"But- but my wish, what happened with my wish?"

"It came true. Look around, you're no longer in danger, you're safe and sound in your house."

Maria's nerves relaxed, her grip on the bed sheets relaxed. It really had been just like a nightmare and everything was finally over, or so she thought.

"Then where is my mom?"

"Well…" the incubator hesitated for a moment.

"Well what?"

"She wasn't a part of the wish."

"What?!" Maria screamed in complete and utter disbelief "What do you mean? Where is she?"

"I'm afraid she's still a prisoner of those men."

"No!" Maria kept screaming as she broke down into tears "No! No it can't be!"

"Maria!" her dad suddenly entered the room and ran up to her, followed by 2 officers, "What's wrong?"

"Dad! Dad where's mom?"

Her father stopped dead on his tracks, a painful look forming in his eyes.

"…dad?"

"…W-we are still looking for her, honey."

Maria's heart sank in the pit of her stomach, she took one of her hands to cover her mouth, the other nervously clutched the bed sheet.

"The officers are still looking for clues, waiting for those bastards to contact us… I'm sure they'll find her, a-and if you tell them what you saw maybe they can find her even faster… please honey, calm down…be strong, okay?"

Maria's eyes were wide open in shock, her thoughts jumbled and confused, then she turned her eyes to the incubator, still staring with the same vacant expression on its face.

"You….you must know-you must know where she is!"

"M-Maria?" her dad mumbled

"You found me, then… If you could find me then you must know exactly where she is!"

The officers looked at each other with confusion; her dad looked at her with increased concern.

"M-Maria… who are you talking to?"

"With that—"

"I think you should know that no one in this room can see or hear me except for you." Kyubey interrupted, "and if you keep acting like you're crazy then no one will believe you when I give you the exact address of that building."

Maria gasped and stopped talking, her tear stained eyes silently pleading with the contractor.

"Sir, I think we should leave her alone." One of the officers told Maria's father, "We are putting too much pressure on her, let a psychologist—"

"She's in Azcapotzalco! They took us to a house in her car!"

Everyone fell silent and turned their attention to the young, trembling girl.

"I know… I remember the exact address!"

Once again minutes turned to hours as Maria and her father waited for the police to contact them. Maria held her soul gem in her hands, looking intensely at her the same way a religious person would look at a cross, kyubey sat by her side.

"You might be wondering what that thing in your hands is."

"No… I just want to know if my mom is safe."

"Well… still, it's important that you know. That's a soul gem, it's the source of all of your power."

"My power…?"

"What was that?" her father nervously asked.

"No…nothing dad."

"Don't say it out loud, just think it" The incubator continued, "We can communicate like this without bothering anyone around us."

"Really?"

"See? You did it just now. Amazing isn't it?"

Maria was dumbstruck, she never imagined such a thing could be possible, "What else can I do?"

"Oh, you can do a lot of things! Once you draw power from the soul gem you will see for yourself, but that power comes with a price—"

"Could I… Can I save my mom with this power?"

"… maybe there's a way, but…"

"What?! How?!"

Everyone in the room focused their attention on Maria, who had stood up while yelling at nothing. The officers dismissed her almost immediately, her father's concern grew.

"Follow me. Just try to not look crazy." Kyubey said as he began walking upstairs towards the highest room in the house. Maria excused herself and quickly began following the creature, the officers told her father to leave her alone.

The second floor had a small utility room with an access to the rooftop, Kyubey sat in front of the door, waiting for Maria to catch up.

"Go on," he started, "take a look outside."

Maria opened the door and stood on the rooftop, at first unsure of what she was supposed to be looking at, but then it became painfully obvious.

In the horizon, among the houses and the buildings, stood shapeless, blackened tower-like formations that resembled cancerous growths applied one on top of the other. Some of them were about the size of her house, and some others had truly frightening sizes, like skyscrapers. They seemed to absorb all the light around them, some of them pulsated and twisted while others slowly crawled around the streets.

"What in the world…"

"Those are witches, creatures that feed on pain and misery. They are invisible to normal people's eyes, and usually they'd be invisible to a Puella Magi's eyes as well, but there are so many feeding in one place at the same time, and they have grown so massive in scale and power that it's simply impossible for them to conceal themselves."

Maria kept looking at the looming towers, she noticed that smaller creatures emerged and returned to them; sometimes the towers would seem to collapse, only to emerge once again in an organically grotesque fashion. They were on every direction, some relatively close, others very far away.

"Those creatures look for places where people lose hope to feed themselves or where they can inflict pain: hospitals, prisons, orphanages… but they also like to follow evil people around and feed on their victims' misery. You could say that those humans are like unwilling 'familiars' to them."

"That means that my mom could be… inside one of those things?"

"That's right. Kidnaping victims undergo so much despair it's impossible for witches to not notice, so I'd say that would be a good place to start looking… I find it amazing how witches have adapted in this region. With such a high concentration in such a small space, I'm surprised this city hasn't collapsed on itself."

"But there's so many! Can't you locate her? Is there some other way of finding her?"

"I'm afraid not, I can perceive despair, but not of one particular individual. I just happened to feel yours at the right moment."

She was absorbed in thought as she looked at those horrifying creatures in the horizon, she couldn't imagine what she or anyone else could possibly do against such overwhelming evil.

"Hey kid! You can't be out there!" One officer yelled at her from the door, "Get back into your house right now!"

Maria apologized and returned to her room, followed by Kyubey. She looked outside through her window. The monsters were still there, gigantic eyesores that twisted an otherwise pleasant day into a waking nightmare.

"Just tell me what to do" Maria telepathically called Kyubey, "I'm not afraid of those things, I don't care as long as I can save my mom…just tell me what to do and how to do it."

"Great, Maria! I knew you had it in you. We need to get out as soon as possible, I'll teach you how to-"

"Maria?" One of the officers knocked on her door, "Maria… Your father…well… can you please come down for a moment?"

Maria ran to the door, forgetting about what Kyubey had to say.

"What happened? Did you find the place?"

"Yes."

"Did you rescue my mom?"

The officer didn't say anything and just kept walking. Her blood ran cold when she arrived at her living room, the officers wearing grim faces, her father clutching his face with both hands, sobbing.

"…dad?"

Moments before the police arrived to the address, only to find it empty, there had been a report of a body found inside of a black plastic bag in an empty field not far from the address given by Maria. It was the naked body of an unidentified woman, her head and hands had been cut off, the face mutilated beyond recognition. On top of the bag there was a sign:

"This happened to me because my husband didn't pay in time."


	3. Hunter

"Maybe I overestimated you" Kyubey coldly said as he stared into Maria's vacant eyes, his patience exhausted.

Maria silently stared at the ceiling as she lay on bed. It had been a week since she last went out of her house, cutting all connection with the outside world. Her soul gem had grown almost completely black.

"You got a few hours before you turn into a witch. You have such a small amount of energy in you that it will be a terrible waste."

Kyubey had been telling her a great deal about her current condition, trying to convince her to save herself, but there simply was no will to live left in her.

""Did I do something wrong?"

"Hmm?"

"Why did this happen? Is this a punishment for something?"

"There is nothing in this universe that would punish or reward a human. What happened was a random sequence of events. There really is no 'why' to the things that happen and most things are simply beyond your control. The quicker you can accept that fact, the longer you can keep from turning into a witch. That would be in the best interest of both of us, don't you think?"

Maria clutched the cold soul gem in her chest.

"This is what you're doing 'wrong', giving up so easily, without even putting up a fight... The differences in the human heart never cease to amaze me-"

"My wish wasn't just for me!" She suddenly shouted at the incubator, seized by an impotent anger "I wanted to rescue my mom too! I can't be so selfish, so disgusting that I let my mom… that I let my mom die…"

"What happened back then was that you didn't have time to enunciate your wish, but your heart spoke for you. Your mind was at its absolute limits, so your fight or flight response triggered and your will to live took over. It's not that you betrayed your mother or that you're selfish in the way humans use the word: deep inside, every living creature is necessarily selfish."

"Shut up!" Maria threw her soul gem at the incubator, who easily dodged it.

"It seems it will be useless to keep talking to you, it's such a shame, but I'll leave now." Kyubey jumped from the table and walked to an open window, turning his head one more time, "However, if my words manage to reach you, you know where to find me. I may still be able to help."

The partial darkness and absolute silence of her room were suffocating. She couldn't stop thinking of the horrible sequence of events that changed her life forever; she couldn't stop picturing the mutilated corpse of her mother, the horrendous process of her death. Day and night, her mind was tortured by horrible visions, maddening thoughts that drove her close and closer to a black abyss.

Her father was miserable beyond measure, tortured similarly with guilt. Her once happy house had turned into a dismal ruin. The idea of becoming a brainless monster and putting her father out of his misery didn't sound terrible. Even so, as she looked at her blackened soul gem, she decided to try and defy the incubator. Maybe there was something she could do right for once.

She left her house and began slowly walking to the nearest metro station, beneath a gray dark sky, surrounded the looming shadows of towering behemoths made out of pure evil, carrying her soul gem on her hand. Fear and sadness had been replaced by a grim, unshakable determination to face her destiny with a bowed head.

The filthy streets of Mexico City crawled with disparity: there were dozens of homeless children and teenagers, washing windshields in every traffic light high on paint thinner while people served expensive meals for their dogs in exclusive restaurants. There were several elderly men and women sitting outside of every bank and restaurant with their hands extended, begging over and over again with a mindless mantra.

The streets were filled with laughs and music, honking of angry drivers and the ramblings of a homeless drug addict, roaming aimlessly. Shortly before descending to the subway, she walked in front of a wall plastered with posters of missing people, glued on top of the other.

The lights of the stairs descending to the metro station covered the sky. The trains had just left by the time she reached the platform, only a few people remained waiting for the next one. She walked to the edge and stood at a distance, trying to avoid alerting the police officer patrolling that area.

She looked at her soul gem as she waited and started thinking of her mother. It was all over; no matter how much horror she had endured how much pain her mind was put through before she was finally murdered in the end she could finally rest in peace, freed from a world that hated everything that existed on its surface.

Witches weren't the root of all evil and death in the world; they were merely a byproduct of the unending nightmare holocaust that surrounded humanity. They were the byproduct of a world built on brutal and inexorable laws that flew on the face of every human conception of a fair world.

She would rest soon, like her mother.

"Hey there!"

A cheerful, soft voice came from behind her. A disheveled girl wearing a high school uniform had suddenly approached her. She wore a placid expression on her face, her eyes extremely reddened.

"What's your name? Mine's Sandra" the girl continued in the same friendly manner, but Maria wouldn't let out a reply, simply taken aback by the sudden encounter.

"What? Not telling me your name?" Sandra continued.

"W-what do you want?"

"Oh, okay then!" she suddenly dropped her friendly façade, looking quite annoyed "I'll cut to the chase. Are you going to throw yourself at the tracks or what?"

Maria's blood froze, her widened eyes and pale visage betrayed her shock.

"You know that's not going to work, right? Dealing with you here is gonna be a pain in my ass. How about you take me to your house so you can hang yourself or something? Hell, by the looks of it, we can just wait it out together, it will be easier that way."

Once again, an overwhelming feeling of dread took control of Maria's thoughts.

"I can always use a spare grief seed."

"…get away from me." She fearfully replied, trying in vain to look fierce.

The drugged girl let out an uproarious laugh as she walked over to Maria and put her arm around her waist "What? You're the suicidal bitch here, I'm only trying to not make it a total waste."

Maria quickly shoved Sandra's arm away "Don't touch me!"

"Or what? You're going to kill yourself? Can't you at least do it somewhere people don't have to clean up all your shit and blood?"

Maria felt anger growing inside her as she clenched her fists, but her mind was suddenly assaulted by the sound of the incoming trains.

"Well, I'll come back later to finish the job" Sandra began talking again with a tone of mockery, "I think you'll agree that I should keep this, it's no use to you anyway."

Maria turned around and saw that Sandra had stolen her phone from her jacket and had started walking away, then running towards the exit.

She ran outside of the train station and entered into a long dark alleyway beneath a vehicular bridge. Sandra made a quick turn into an alley, the moment Maria turned the corner she was received with a strong punch to her solar plexus that sent her to the ground.

In front of her, with a triumphant and malicious grin on her face, stood Sandra, now covered in a bizarre arrangement of clothes that reminded her of a Halloween costume. She wore a stylish dress and boots in different tones of red, her hands covered by white gloves. Her entire costumed looked damaged and ripped in parts, as if it had been torn by a savage creature.

The girl walked up to Maria and kicked her teeth in, sending waves of pain through her body. Afterwards she began searching her clothes for money and other objects. She took Maria's soul gem and considered destroying it right then and there or just taking it with her and throwing it down the drain later.

"It won't take long now." She smugly said as she threw the nearly blackened gem back at her owner, still recovering from the pain, her mouth covered in blood.

Sandra produced a large serrated knife from the backpack she was carrying, then stepped on Maria's hand "Listen, I'm going to count to 10, if you haven't turned into a witch by then, I'm going to start cutting off your fingers, alright?"

"N-no…" Maria's heart was frozen with terror "Please…"

"And when I'm done with them, I'll gouge your eyes out, cut off your lips…"

"No…No!"

"10… 9…"

Maria looked at the gray sky, the dirty, dark walls that surrounded her, the leering expression of her killer.

"8… 7… 6… "

She was again trapped without hope, again at the mercy of death. Just like that day.

"5… 4… 3..."

She looked around desperately, blindly hoping to see the incubator looking from afar, just like she did before. But there would be no miracle to save her now.

"2… 1…"

Sandra grabbed Maria's hand and without any warning buried the serrated end of the knife into Maria's soft flesh, swiftly cutting through the bone.

Maria twisted and screamed, she could feel several fingers coming off simultaneously as she fruitlessly trashed around. Sandra threw the fingers on Maria's face, sending her into a frenzy of horror.

"Oh come on! It doesn't even hurt that much, not as much as the entire hand, at least."

The soul gem had almost completely gone black. As Maria felt the knife bury into her wrist, her mind conjured the image of her mother's sweet smile, and she could vividly visualize all the moments of joy she lived with her. Despite all the pain and horror of that brutal and uncaring world, even when she was trapped in that moment of agony and terror, Maria could still feel the warmth of her loving mother.

Sandra was too absorbed in her task, confident that Maria wouldn't fight back, and thus she didn't have time to protect herself from Maria's clenched fist. The punch had broken her nose, leaving her dizzy for a few moments. The punch had been so hard she had been sent backwards, falling on her back and hitting her head against the wall of the alley..

Maria stood up as her body was covered head to toe with a bright aura. She felt the warmth of her mother covering her, like a loving embrace. Deep beneath that breath taking feeling of love, she could feel the same blind will to live that had twisted her wish but this time it felt different. It felt like her mother telling her to stand up and fight back, to keep going despite all the pain.

Her body soon was covered by an attire very similar to the one of her rival, yet completely different: Her dress was dominated by gentle purple and yellow tones, gloved hands too, but with heels and stockings instead of boots. The skirt cut in such a way that it resembled a blooming flower. Above her chest lied a crest, the same she had in the polluted soul gem.

"You want to play, huh?" Sandra defiantly said as she stood up, "Let's fucking play!"

She produced a handgun from the backpack she was carrying at the time she made a bizarre weapon appear on her right hand: a stainless, shiny, red object similar to a very large crossbow of metallic appearance.

Maria raised her hands and covered her face as she heard the quick detonations of the pistol and of the giant crossbow. A force field had formed in front of her, an ethereal wall of mild pink tones. The shots stopped abruptly, bouncing off from the shield or being "absorbed" by it.

They both stared intensely at each other in complete silence. Maria's mind raced to find a way to escape and to contain the horror she felt at seeing her mutilated hand in front of her; Sandra thought of ways to get around her shields. Both of them were thrown out of their focus when a creature entered their field of vision.

It was a grotesque, twisting figure that walked on two appendages that resembled a dog's extremities. Its upper body was gray and had the appearance of a battered, rotting baby toy. The eyes of Maria widened with fear, while Sandra was merely caught by surprise.

"What the…"

Without noticing, the world around them had transformed, twisted. The walls of the alley had grown to ludicrous, impossible size, covered with childish drawings that depicted the horrifying creature in front of them, as well as many other bizarre monstrosities.

"What's going on?" Maria asked, forgetting about the feud for only a moment.

"Oh, you won't have to worry about it for long." The girl snickered as she aimed and shot at the bizarre creature, blowing it to pieces.

A wave of terror washed over Maria as she realized she was trapped inside of a witch's barrier with a cold-hearted psychopath.


	4. ANDREA

The dark alley extended indefinitely in two directions, neither seemed to have an end. From the shadows more creatures began emerging, twitching as they observed their two guests, several of them grew wing-like appendages and began circling over the girls, emitting shrill cries.

Sandra had a look of defiance in her eyes, "Fuck yeah! Bring it on!" she shouted with a cocky smile before darting off to the right, shooting her way through several of the creatures.

Slowly surrounded by the grotesque shrieking creatures, Maria's legs gave away under the pressure and she began vomiting. She couldn't stop looking at the bloodied stumps on her hand. One of the creatures approached her cut fingers and devoured them like a hungry rat.

One of the winged creatures swiftly descended from the sky, Maria barely had time to put up her barrier, which cracked like glass upon impact with the creature. Panicking, she began running at top speed on the opposite direction of Sandra as more and more horrifying creatures popped from the shadows. Soon she had a dozen chasing her on the ground and in the sky. The shrieking, the flapping of those unnatural wings, the sound of a dozen paws scratching against the floor was simply maddening.

No matter how much she kept running, the alley just kept going without an end in sight, the great black walls extending indefinitely and only letting a small portion of the gray sky through. She was in a panic induced hysteria and almost didn't notice a door protruding from the right wall.

It was a pair of gigantic, regal looking gates that looked like they were made of rotting plastic, the paint peeling off from several places. She tried outrunning the monsters, but it was impossible: as soon as she slowed down to grab onto the door, the creatures launched themselves at her simultaneously, from the ground and from above.

Maria's shield withstood the first hit, but it had begun breaking to pieces. She grabbed onto the handle of the door and began pushing and pulling, hitting it with her good hand, throwing herself at it like a mad animal. The gates seemed to open by themselves, and Maria threw herself inside as the creatures once again launched a coordinated attack, the gates shut close behind her.

Behind the gigantic gates there was another alley, darker and with the walls decorated with drawings on paper, this one had a bifurcation at the end of it. She could hear gunshots coming from somewhere in front of her. She began running, fearing that the creatures would break past the gates.

The sky looked pitch black, no sun, no stars. The alley was illuminated by streetlights that hanged from the sides, many of them broken or failing. She continued down the maze-like alley, trying to follow the sound of the gunshots.

Finally she found another one of the gates; this one looked even more derelict than the one before, and had bloody handprints all over it.

Once again the gates opened by themselves and revealed a new, even darker alley. The walls were filled with drawings of the creatures, the floor littered with heads and bodies of rotten baby toys. There was only one light at the end of the alley, above a dark, shriveled figure that twitched in place. It looked like a person wrapped underneath several layers of dirty blankets.

Maria barely registered a bolt of light that suddenly exploded from the darkness in front of her. It entered through Maria's chest and exploded inside of it, bursting open a gaping hole. She fell on the ground, blood pouring out through the wound and her mouth.

"Good job, you made it all the way here" Sandra approached Maria, emerging from the near total darkness in front of her. Maria's ears barely registered the words, the shock being too great for her.

Sandra turned around and began slowly walking towards the witch, her large crossbow still equipped on her right hand. Maria couldn't stand up, she could hardly breathe, the 'bullet' had missed her soul gem by centimeters but had dealt spectacular damage.

As she clutched her gored chest and breathed heavily, producing a grotesque sound as her lungs filled with blood, Maria's mind was pumped with adrenaline. The image of her mother, bloodied and broken, just like she was at that moment, came to mind. She had failed to protect her, to protect herself, and now she would die in a miserable way just like her mother did. Her mind ran at top speed, her inhuman body refusing to give up despite the wounds.

Sandra stood in front of the twitching figure looking at it with disdain. She produced a hand grenade from her backpack and gently placed it on top of the creature.

"Like taking candy from a retard"

She pulled the pin and then jumped backwards, landing in front of Maria. The grenade went off, blowing the creature to pieces. The alley began shifting, fading away.

"Speaking of," Sandra said as she turned to see Maria, still clinging onto her life, "Gotta hand it to you, most would have turned into a witch by now…guess I'll have to get freaky with this thing" she pulled out the knife, still bloody.

There was another loud sound from the end of the alley, like a second explosion, and then a dozen of tentacle-like limbs violently emerged and reached Sandra with a startling speed. At the end of the tentacles were large white porcelain hands, also presenting an advanced state of degradation.

Sandra barely had any time to react, shooting one of the hands with her crossbow and dodging two, however, one of the tentacles had stabbed into her abdomen and another on her right leg, immobilizing her as the other hands grabbed at her arms and legs, pulling her into a hole that had formed at the end of the alley, screaming.

Sandra's backpack broke and spilled all over the place: several plastic bags, money, Maria's phone, and 4 grief seeds. Maria crawled and grabbed one of the grief seeds and took it near her soul gem, as Kyubey had instructed before.

As soon as her soul gem recovered its former brightness she could feel life returning to her. She stood up and had the displeasure of seeing the gaping wound in her chest regenerate as well as her fingers grow back, her clothes also grew back like if they were another tissue.

The uncomfortable spectacle was interrupted by the screams of Sandra, coming from the hole that had formed in the wall, were the wrapped entity used to be. Before she had any time to make a decision, another set of tentacles emerged. She put up her barrier, but the tentacles wrapped around it, dragging her into the darkness.

Maria's pain had disappeared as quickly as it had come, but her mind was still reeling with panic. The absolute darkness was only pierced by the glow of her barrier and her soul gem.

It was another alley; this one had no light of any kind. It was grimy, with so many rotten baby toy pieces she couldn't avoid cracking them whenever she took a step. The walls were covered with the same drawings, but now they were covered in blood and black mold. The air was extremely heavy, with dust and mold filling the tiny space.

The hands of the witch fell heavily on Maria's barriers like whips, bouncing off sometimes with broken fingers. The tentacles came from the end of the alley, now from a dark, barely human creature that sat curled up in a ball. In front of the witch lied the mutilated body of Sandra.

She lied face down, her mutilated arms covered her head, she was missing large chunks of flesh, leaving her bare bone exposed. The left side of her face was entirely gone, pieces of her face dangling from it. Her left eye was missing as well. Her exposed back had been flayed by the witch and her legs were severely damaged.

Maria's barrier began cracking once again under the unyielding flurry of hits, some of the tentacles acting like whips, others pushing against the barrier, trying to stab into it. Her legs were shaking, unable to think of how to save her life, horrified with the knowledge that she would suffer the same fate Sandra did.

Soon all of the tentacles had begun attacking her, she couldn't see past them anymore. The moment her shield cracked she would be torn apart by that thing, mutilated even worse than her adversary. She let out a scream of horror as the helplessness of her situation became overwhelming.

Finally her barrier broke and the hands pierced through her while others simply grabbed at her limbs ready to pull her apart. That instant of horror froze in time; her mind was once again at its limits as she felt her body endure deadly damage, as she realized her death was imminent.

She heard several detonations and then she fell to the floor, the tentacles losing their cohesion and slowly disappearing, the witch's barrier began fading away around her. Soon she was back to the filthy, dark alley she had first entered.

Sandra was aiming still aiming her crossbow where the witch used to be, her battered body barely managing. At the end of the alley there were a couple of broken toys and dirty papers as well as a dirty rag, on top of it the grief. Sandra's powers failed her and she switched back to her normal clothes, now covered in blood, her grief seed losing almost all of its color.

Maria's body began healing, but her soul gem was once again blackened. Sandra couldn't heal herself, she was left on the floor breathing heavily, looking at Maria.

"Give…give me my grief seeds" Sandra managed to say through all of her pain, "I—I saved your life, if it hadn't been for me-"

"You tried to kill me" Maria interrupted, a look of shock showing on her face.

"You were going to turn into a witch…"

"You tortured me! You wanted me to turn into one to kill me! Tell me, did you do the same to them?" Maria said as she held the grief seeds in her hand. "How many times…how many people have you hurt?"

"What the fuck do you want me to say?" Sandra couldn't conceal her desperation anymore and her voice began cracking "Do you want me to apologize? Well I'm sorry… I'm really really sorry! Do you… do you want me to beg?"

Maria couldn't believe that the pathetic person in front of her was the same crazed torturer who had put her through so much pain. She didn't want to feel sorry, but the scene was too much to stomach.

"Okay…I'm begging you" Sandra meekly said as a single tear ran through her bloodied cheek "Please…I'm begging you…"

Maria stood in place looking at the broken body of Sandra. She felt pangs of compassion in her chest, but she couldn't conceive saving such a reprehensible human being. Before doing anything else, Maria took the same grief seed she had used before to purify her soul gem. Her train of thought was abruptly interrupted when suddenly the grief seed broke open, spewing a black cloud that quickly inundated the alley.

"What-what the fuck?!" Sandra screamed with panic showing in her voice "You fucking idiot, you revived that witch!"

The world began shifting around Maria as she was enveloped by that dark cloud. She threw the grief seed at the end of alley and soon the world began shifting again.

"Quickly…give me a grief seed! G-get me the fuck out of here!"

Maria's eyes darted all over the place, then she picked up Sandra's broken bag and all her belongings.

"What-what are you waiting for? Give me-"

Sandra felt her heart sink as Maria took the handgun from the ground and began running to the exit of the alley.

"No…no wait!"

Maria stopped dead on her tracks and instantly turned around, looking at the wounded girl only for a moment before biting her lip and simply running away.

"NO!" the girl howled as she saw Maria disappear around the corner "No no no! You bitch! I'll fucking kill you! I'll-"Suddenly there was only silence.

Maria kept running, never looking back. Without noticing her clothes had gone back to normal, and soon she found herself at the entrance of the metro station, where she could finally take a moment to breathe and let everything sink in

She looked at her hand, her fingers were back; she clutched her chest, there wasn't a horrifying wound her clothes were dirty, but not bloodied or torn. She breathed heavily as she clutched the shredded backpack walking away from the metro station.

She aimlessly walked away looking at the people on the streets. No one had noticed that a few meters away she had been fighting for her life; no one had noticed she had left a wounded girl to die at the mercy of a nightmarish monster after stealing from her and denying her help.

Her stomach turned as she grasped the gravity of her actions. She never imagined she would be capable of something like that and she desperately tried to justify her actions to herself. She wanted to cry, the thought of going back and saving Sandra crossed her mind, but all she did was walk away with a very particular destination in mind.

From the top of the Angel of Independence, in Paseo de la Reforma, Kyubey looked down at the sea of people that passed by, quickly analyzing all the young and old faces of the tourists and the natives alike. He wasn't looking to make a contract but merely enjoyed the great variety of aspects the human race had to offer, the great disparity that permeated every aspect of their existence.

His eyes immediately fixated on the familiar face of Maria as she slowly made her way to the monument.


	5. Cornered

"I'm afraid that's impossible" Kyubey replied with remarkable coldness, sitting by the side of Maria back in her house, "You can't make another wish, and you can't simply stop being a Puella Magi, that's not how it works."

"But-but I can't do this! How am I supposed to fight those things?"

"Thousands have done it before you, and like I said you have a great potential hidden inside of you, I don't see why you couldn't."

"I didn't know it would be like this… you just took advantage of me."

"We made a deal. I granted you your freedom in exchange of this. If it weren't for me you'd have shared a similar fate to your mother, tell me, would you honestly have preferred that?"

Maria clenched her fists, she felt a hatred manifesting in her soul.

"You can do anything! You have the power to grant any wish… how is it possible that you can't help me?"

"It's not on me, there's nothing I can do. One person gets one wish, and afterwards they become a Puella Magi. These are the laws of the energy cycle that governs our universe, the very laws of thermodynamics don't allow for anything to be done."

"But… there has to be something… there has to be a way…" Maria could feel her soul gem grow dark with each passing second.

"I can help you in other ways. I could guide and train you if you let me, maybe I could get you a partner—"

"Really?" Maria's eyes suddenly flared back to life but then Sandra's leering, cruel expression came to her mind.

"Most likely, there are a lot of girls who don't want to work alone, plenty of small groups around. Are you interested?"

"But how I can trust them or you? I don't know what's happening!"

"Maria, I'm going to be direct and honest with you, and I hope I can gain your trust this way. I have no reason to lie to you, and I never did; the circumstances forced me to omit some details. Will you listen to me?"

Kyubey's words felt ominous, but sincere "Okay, tell me."

"The energy that is released when a Puella Magi turns into a witch varies greatly and it depends on both their innate potential and the amount of grief seeds they consume. The longer you keep hunting witches, the more powerful you will become, the greater the amount of energy that will be released when you turn. If something were to happen to you, well, it would be a huge waste of potential. I want to ensure that you will survive as long as possible, so that nothing goes to waste."

Maria was speechless. She had no way to escape from Kyubey's horrifying plan and he had not even the slightest intention of letting her out the deal.

"Will you trust me now?"

"…yeah"

"Great. I'll pair you with someone who can guide you and protect you, and I'll be by your side. I'll come to look for you when I find her; otherwise you can always find me at the angel." Kyubey turned around and was about to jump off from the window, when suddenly Maria spoke up.

"Wait! Listen, I'll do whatever you want, I'll fight until I can no longer do it, I accept it all… but please, there has to be a way to bring my mother back, please!"

"Well… now that you mention it, there is a way to bring someone back from the dead, but it doesn't depend of you."

"What? What is it?"

"Someone else has to wish for it in exchange of becoming a magical girl. Do you know anyone who would sacrifice a wish for your sake? If you ever do, remember that I'll support you."

Kyubey left and Maria was left alone, unable to sleep. She sat at her computer browsing her social media. The past few days she had been bombarded by messages from all her friends and family, even people claiming to be from the news. She browsed for a while, constantly ignoring messages from online contacts, until she saw the name of her best friend flash on the screen.

"Mari, can we talk?"

Sofia had been constantly messaging her since the day of the incident. For the first time since the incident Maria didn't feel completely alone in the world.

"Yeah" Maria typed, unable to think of something else to say.

"How are you doing? Are you alright?"

"Don't worry. Thank you."

Maria stood up and began walking around in small circles, choking back her tears. Silence became claustrophobic, so she turned on the TV. She started channel surfing until she reached the news. That day 5 children died in a daycare fire, two people got shot and killed during a robbery, a man who murdered his wife got out of prison through a legal loophole, an entire family was found dead in their own house, a pedophile ring involving several prominent politicians was uncovered.

This was the world that had only existed on TV beyond her tunnel vision and the artificiality of her everyday life, but now she was a part of it. There didn't exist anymore barriers that could protect her; not a religion, not a culture, no escapism. For the first time in her life she experiences a bare world, devoid of any symbols or meanings were nothing existed but the flesh that bleeds and rots.

No one would save her from what was coming, just as no one saved her mother from the torture she endured. Maria became conscious of how one day she would wake up to her last day, how she would experience all the pain and terror of death one day, and how this pain would prolong indefinitely as she turned into a malignant tumor in the face of existence.

What was left in a world like this? What hope could there be for such a miserable planet and its entire people? A world that allowed for the existence of witches could not be saved or fixed by any wish.

There was no hope, there had never been any; not for her nor her family, for the world or anyone else. The world would keep spinning, burning everything that dwells on its surface long after she had turned into a brainless monster.

Maria's mind melted under the chilling thoughts it conceived, swinging violently back and forth between a deep, despair ridden longing, and a burning guilt.

Her hands trembled and grew numb and her vision lost its focus at times. She gnashed and chattered her teeth as she kept scratching at her skin. Television kept playing in the background, the noise growing indistinct to her ears.

As new dark thoughts grew and settled in her mind, Maria took out her soul gem and looked at it for a moment; she walked over to her mirror and then closed her eyes.

Her body was enveloped by light and she could feel a pleasant yet strange sensation washing over her. For a brief moment the world became spectacle of colorful lights and shapes, then she was back into her room.

She took a look at herself: an extravagant and colorful costume that had a heavy gloominess to it. It looked like a beautiful flower with mangled and damaged petals, or a lovingly crafted doll that had been abandoned long ago.

Holding both of her hands in front of her face, she summoned a glowing, semi-transparent surface. It felt cold and solid like glass, pushed against the wall she could see the full extent of it, glowing with more intensity. It was hard to believe her eyes and at times everything felt unreal.

She remembered her mutilated and bleeding hand returning to normal. She vividly recalled the sensation of her lungs filling with blood, the gaping hole in her chest that should have killed her closing up. She held in her hands the pistol Sandra had used to try to kill her, she used to think that there was nothing anyone could do against a bullet, but she had proved herself wrong.

The fear she had felt at the abominable acts she saw in the news, the deep terror that assaulted her every time the face of Sandra or the face of the man that kidnapped her popped up in her mind, the feeling of powerlessness that had permeated her entire being suddenly disappeared.

If Maria had the powers she had now, or even if she simply had the pistol the precise moment those two men descended from the car or the moment she saw the hateful gaze of her torturer, what would she have done? How much did she really want to save her mother? How far was she willing to go?

Kyubey's words came to her mind; there was still one thing left to try.

The next day, the sun shone high in the sky, a bright winter afternoon without clouds. The heat was next to unbearable, yet Maria couldn't feel anything. Her vision was fixated on the shiny wooden coffin being lowered into the cool dirt of the grave.

Her life felt like an absurd fiction, a series of events clumsily stitched together and she felt like a mere spectator, ready to wake up at any moment, to look away from the screen.

Her father stood by her side, trying in vain to hide his pain as she clutched Maria's shoulder. The only other people around were a priest, the people from the funerary and a couple of police officers. The priest recited religious chants somberly, but besides that no one made a sound.

As she stood looking at the hole being filled with dirt, she softly clawed at her face, never noticing she had begun grazing her cheek. The guilt was unbearable; she felt as if she was throwing and abandoning her mother in that empty, freezing dark box, betraying her even more than she had already done.

She felt so concerned despite being fully aware that the destroyed body inside that box wasn't her mother anymore, that the rotting meat hidden inside couldn't feel anything anymore. Her mother would never laugh or cry, she wouldn't get sad about not seeing her daughter and she would never hug her again, but most importantly, she wouldn't feel anything anymore. Maria wouldn't be so lucky.

"Please, you're hurting yourself" her father grabbed her hand and stopped her. Maria turned around to see his tear stained face. She wondered how he'd react if he knew that she hadn't saved her mother and that she had tried to kill herself.

"Sorry" Maria broke down in tears as she hugged her father.

The grave was filled, a flower arrangement placed on top of the fresh dirt. Maria and her father stood in silence for a couple of minutes. The sun had already begun to set and the graveyard would close soon. Hugging each other and enduring their misery together, they walked to the exit, their heads hanging low.

Maria took out her soul gem and looked at it as they headed to the exit. The gem was growing dark again and she'd have to use a grief seed, stall the inevitable as much as she could, because there was a new resolution in her heart.

Maria conceived a desperate solution to an insurmountable problem and her last move before submitting to the bitter taste of resignation. She would save her mother, she would fix her life, and she would wake up from this nightmare.

"Dad… can I ask you a favor?"

"What is it, honey?"

"I didn't know if I could, but I don't want to be alone, so I invited a friend over."

"You should have told me before… we'll see."

"Please dad, I just need someone to talk to."

"I don't know if it would be right, who did you—"

Right at the entrance of the grave stood Sofia, accompanied by both of her parents. They all had looks of sadness and pity in their eyes. Both girls rushed to each other's arms, and began crying as they hugged.

"You know you can always count on me" Sofia said as she cried, overtaken by emotion.

Something bloomed inside of Maria, something she couldn't understand. She could feel the tears running down her face and she could hear her own desperate crying, but inside all she could feel was this new, nameless sensation.

Kyubey calmly waited for Maria to return to her house.


	6. Hope

Sofia had been to Maria's house many times before, more than she could bother to remember. Never before had the house felt so empty and cold.

They headed upstairs towards Maria's room. Besides their footsteps there was no other sound in the house.

"Are you here?" Maria telepathically communicated, unsure of if she'd get a reply.

"Yes. Is someone coming with you?"

"Yeah, don't let her see you. Just let me talk to her, ok?"

"I understand."

The bare room was littered with boxes, Kyubey analyzed the new girl silently from the top of a stack, surprised that Maria would try something so bold.

Maria couldn't turn around to face her friend, she was afraid she would break down in tears in front of her. She felt as if she were sacrificing her friend, there was no other way to put it. An innocent life would be ruined in exchange of another. She wanted to get on her knees and bang her head against the floor, to run away and jump off from the window, whatever it took to escape from that horrifying decision she was about to take.

"We'll move away tomorrow. We're gonna be living in my grandparents' house for a while. Sorry I didn't tell you before."

"Don't worry," Sofia replied full of worry, unable to say anything else.

"I'll also be transferring to another school. Your parents agreed to let you stay tonight because this is the last time I'll see you."

"D-don't say that! As long as we keep in contact we can still be friends. Even if we don't see each other much-"

"We won't see each other anymore, never again, Alright?! I don't want to see you again after tonight!" shortly after that sudden burst of emotion, Maria broke down into tears.

Sofia rushed to her side and hugged her, she was also crying. She couldn't even imagine how much pain her friend was going through, her heart sank as she understood she was looking at a life fall apart before her very eyes.

"No matter what you say, I want you to know that you can always count on me! I won't leave you! I wont…"

Again Maria's hands began shaking and growing numb, her vision grew blurry and her teeth chattered. The chance was too great to ignore, but a life was a burden too heavy to carry. Once again, someone else would pay the cost of her selfishness.

"Please…please if there's anything-Anything at all that I can do…."

Maria abruptly shoved Sofia and walked away. She could feel the impulse to sacrifice her friend growing stronger and it was horrifying. She found herself face to face with a mirror; she stared both at her twisted visage and at the creature silently standing behind her.

"I can do it if you want." Kyubey stared into Maria's eyes through the reflection of the mirror, and her eyes widened.

"I'm so sorry, Maria" Sofia lamented from behind her "I know there's nothing I can do, but—"

"Maybe there is something you can do." a new voice suddenly erupted from the room, catching Sofia by surprise.

"What the-? Who—"

She almost fell backwards when she first saw the bizarre cat like creature that was staring at her, talking to her.

"Maybe all you need to do is wish for it."

"…what the hell is that?" she turned around to see Maria, surprised at how unaffected she seemed by all of this. Maria didn't say a word.

"I can see that your soul has a certain predisposition to selflessness."

"What are you talking about? What are you?"

"He's a messenger of magic" Maria spoke somberly, "He will grant you a wish, it can be anything you want…"

"All you have to do is sign a contract with me!"

"A contract?"

"In exchange of your wish, you must become a Puella Magi, a powerful protector of humanity…like I said, you possess a selfless soul, fit for a hero!"

"This… this is insane! Maria, what is going on?" Sofia had finally lost her composure; her quiet discomfort had turned to fear for a while now. Before she totally lost control, Maria grabbed her by one shoulder and showed her the soul gem.

"What is that thing?" Sofia asked with both awe and fear in her voice.

The gem suddenly radiated with an intense light that covered Maria's entire body. Sofia stared in utter disbelief at the display of lights that erupted suddenly in the room. When the lights faded away, her friend was once again standing in front of her, brandishing a bizarre costume that had appeared from thin air.

Sofia covered her own mouth to suppress a scream of pure shock. She couldn't explain what was happening in front of her, there was no way to explain any of it.

"What the hell… Maria, what's going on?"

"…I am alive only because of this. If I hadn't made a wish back then, if Kyubey had never visited me…"

Maria's entire demeanor had changed, the gem grew darker by the minute., Her mind invaded by memories equal parts painful, equal parts horror.

"I was going to die… I was going to die! That's why I couldn't do it right! That's why my wish came out wrong. I didn't want to just save myself! I didn't!"

"Maria, calm down" Kyubey's voice resounded inside Maria's head, "If you keep this up, she won't make the contract."

Maria didn't care anymore. She had felt so lonely, so utterly consumed with the guilt of having destroyed her own life that all she wanted in that moment was someone to give her a word of affection, to tell her that everything would be right, that it hadn't been her fault.

"I just want to see her again!" Maria wept, "I'm sorry! I'm sorry!"

Sofia was still stunned, but what Maria was implying filled her soul with a religious anxiety:

"You mean I can wish for that? Can you really bring anyone back from the dead? She asked Kyubey.

"Of course I can."

"Wait!" Maria suddenly grabbed her friend's hand, making her turn around to face her while Kyubey felt a mild annoyance, "Wait…please—"

"Oh my god, you mean I can really bring her back?" Sofia's exhilaration became visible as she understood little by little what was happening.

"Incredible, isn't it?" Kyubey kept his salesman pitch with the same expression at all times, "All it takes is one instant and the world will change, all you have to do is ask for it."

Hearing those words irrevocably poisoned Sofia's soul, it shook her to the very core of her being. Such an unimaginable amount of power was offered to her just like that. Yet throughout this delirium, the voice of reason still resounded in the recesses of her mind, a cautious voice that could perceive something lurking beneath.

"Hold on Hold on! What is this about the contract? What is going to happen to me?"

"You'll become a Puella Magi, just like Maria. You'll possess magical powers others can only dream of!"

"But I don't understand, why would you give me a wish and powers just like that?"

"You'll get your wish, and in exchange, you will also acquire the means to protect people from witches, creatures that feed on pain and are often the cause of it."

So there was the catch, she thought, but it didn't sound too bad considering what was offered to her. Even though she didn't know the extent of the promised power or that of the witches, she simply felt the impulse to go ahead and do it.

All the while Maria held a despairing hope in her heart. Her biggest wish was finally within her grasp, all it took was a little push, it wouldn't be hard to convince her.

"...world peace, the cure for cancer… can I really do it?"

"Sure you can, if your heart is really set on it. Most people "wish" for those things too, but their hearts don't lie. There's always some other interest that comes before something so selfless, only a few people have managed to wish for something of that scale."

Maria felt a mixture of despair and hatred accumulating inside of her like black bile, an all-consuming feeling of impotence finally pushed her over the edge, forgetting everything about dignity or the values that had governed her life.

"Sofia!" Maria's scream suddenly filled the room, startling both Kyubey and the young girl. "Please please don't do this to me!"

"No! I was just… I just wanted to know if it was possible to—"

"Listen…. I just wish I could have done it myself, ok? You have no idea how much I hate myself, how much I wish I could have saved her….I wish I wasn't such a fucking idiot, but I am! I am so useless I want to die!"

Once more Maria sank into tears, but this time it was frantic: partly a temper tantrum, partly a cry of anguish. This may as well be her last chance and she felt all the weight of that moment on her fragile shoulders.

"I'm so sorry… I never wanted any of this to happen, but please! Please you have to do it! Please bring her back! I'll do whatever you want, I'll give you whatever you want… you-you said you would help me."

Sofia was speechless, tiny tears forming in her eyes. Maria kneeled in front of her friend as if she were before the cross in the church, an absolute sign of defeat and submission that secretly concealed her selfish impulse.

"Do you… do you want me to beg?"

"World peace, cures for illnesses, things like that might be hard to grasp for your heart," Kyubey interrupted the spectacle in front of him without showing even the slightest bit of emotion "Then again, vain things like money or fame might also not reconcile with your soul. I can tell by the look in your face that this is something you are emotionally invested in, enough to actually make a wish from it."

"Oh god…"now the weight of the choice was also falling on Sofia's shoulders. She couldn't think of something to wish, and at the same time she felt morally obliged to do as Maria told her. Even choosing not to wish for anything felt like a monstrous option, a complete waste of a once in a lifetime experience that would not let her sleep again.

"But I… I don't even know what I am supposed to do! What is all of this about witches and powers? What are even YOUR powers?"

"I should be dead" Maria replied with exhaustion showing through her voice "I should have died back then, and so many times afterwards. I cannot die, not anymore."

Sofia's blood ran cold. Was Maria claiming immortality? Was she really being offered that much power? Maybe sacrificing her one and only wish for the sake of someone else was worth it merely for the power she would receive in exchange. Her thoughts were in total disarray, fear on one hand, ambition like she had never experienced before on the other. Any decision she made, she could tell she would regret it.

"Much more than just that," Kyubey carried the conversation Maria started, "the abilities that hide in the depths of your soul are unknown even to me. You have no idea of what's in store for you."

"If I do this… if I make the wish…the only thing that will happen to me is that I get those powers to fight, and that's it?"

Before Kyubey had a chance to reply, Maria raised her voice with absolute decision to see her betrayal to the very end.

"Yes! You will fight those monsters, and they are horrible monsters! But that's it… with the power you have it won't be hard. And I promise I will be there with you… I will never leave you alone! So please…please just help me."

"Stop it already!" a new voice suddenly exclaimed, startling everyone in the room.

There was a girl standing in Maria's doorway, looking at the scene with an expression of indignation. She was wearing garish clothes very similar to those Maria was wearing, covered in purple tones and with bits that looked metallic, like an armor.

Maria abruptly stood up, standing in front of her friend and raising her hands, her eyes showing a wild agitation as her mind recalled the encounter with Sandra.

"How can you do something like this? You can't just lie like that!" she began walking towards the two frightened girls.

"Stay back!" Maria made her shields appear, glowing with intensity, "Who are you?"

"Her name is Claudia" Kyubey answered, "She is the girl I was going to pair you up with."

Maria was shaking, hostile intent showing in her face and body language. Sofia was afraid, all she could do was hide behind her friend.

"She's trying use you." Claudia exclaimed with self-righteous anger, "Come on, tell her the truth!"


	7. Burden

"A coward and a liar, you sure know how to pick 'em." Claudia pointed out coldly as she stared at Kyubey with disdain before turning to face Maria's furious gaze.

"What is she doing here!?" Maria screamed at Kyubey while Sofia looked at the scene with a mixture of fear and astonishment.

"I followed him here. I wanted to make sure I wasn't going to end up paired with some spineless worm."

"Shut up!" Maria shouted as the room glowed with pink, her power manifesting in full. Claudia was not impressed

"You probably have no idea how hard your friend was about to screw you over, and if you don't get out quickly, you'll get to see it."

"What do you mean?" Sofia fearfully blurted out, afraid of both the intruder and her friend.

"There's a cluster of witches coming this way. If you don't get out of here right now, you're going to die."

Maria's bravado was swiftly snuffed out and panic began settling in.

"What's the matter? Are you afraid?" Claudia continued talking with a slight mockery on her tone "I thought you were going to fight side by side with her like true friends but you look like you're about to shit yourself with fear."

"My dad! I have to save him!" Maria almost darted out of the room but abruptly returned to her defensive stance as Claudia made brilliant red orbs appear in thin air.

"Your dad's done for if we don't kill those things. He got marked by a witch inside of the cluster. Even if you manage to drag his sorry ass out of here, they'll keep chasing him day and night until they finally get him, either them or another witch that gets a whiff."

Maria wordlessly turned to Kyubey, desperate to find some sort of guidance, a way to escape.

"This might be your best chance," Kyubey telepathically contacted her, catching her off-guard; "Our work with your friend is half done, take a look."

Maria turned her head expecting to see Sofia as consumed by fear as she was, but instead, all she could see in her friend's expression was self-righteous anger.

"What the hell is your problem?" Sofia snapped at Claudia, "You act like she's some kind of monster, but do you have any idea of what she's going through? What do you know about her? What do you think you know about me?"

Claudia let out a tiresome sigh as she rubbed her eyes with her fingertips "Jesus, you people drive me nuts."

"No one here is asking for your help!" Sofia exclaimed bravely, but Maria felt shivers going down her spine, "Who do you think you are to decide for me?"

"Listen you dumbass, once you make a contract you'll end up turning into one of the monsters that shitheel over there is panicking over. I don't think your friend told you that, did she?"

Maria almost breaks down again when her friend's gaze collided with hers, her blood turned to ice when she heard her ask "Is…is that true?"

"We don't have time for this now. Just get the hell out of here and let us handle this." Claudia said losing her patience, approaching the pair, now that Maria had lowered her guard and seemed to be helplessly paralyzed by dread.

Unexpectedly, Sofia barked a question at Kyubey "What are you?" Kyubey was also taken by surprise.

"Hmm? A messenger of magic, like Maria said."

"No, I mean… are you some sort of angel? Are you the devil?"

Kyubey didn't say anything, but Claudia let out an audible groan "Are you serious?"

"Shut up!" even though Sofia was scared, she had also lost her patience "I'm not going anywhere, I won't leave her alone!"

"Fine, suit yourself." Claudia picked out a crumpled surgical face mask from a small bag she was carrying and threw it at the feet of Maria, at the same time she picked out a black leather face mask from the bag and placed it on her face.

"What are you doing? What is this for?" Maria's voice came softly from her quivering throat.

"Believe it or not, witches are not the worst thing out there. It's better if no one knows that you can do crazy shit like this" she said as she produced a red glowing orb from her fingertip, "Get moving."

"W-what about—" Maria was about to ask about Sofia, but was cut short by Claudia, increasingly showing her short temper.

"What about her? What about her!? You're fucking stupid if you think I'm going to do this alone or if you think I'm going to let her slow us down. You want us to wait for those things to come here and fuck up your father? Listen, I swear I'm going to let you deal with this shit yourself if you don't get moving!"

"I'm going too." Sofia interjected, overcoming her own fear.

"Ugh, do whatever you fucking want. You follow me, quickly!" Claudia darted out of the room with Maria closely behind, leaving Sofia alone. Maria had forgotten completely about making Sofia's wish and could think about nothing but the horror she was about to face.

"To tell you the truth, I'm neither of those beings" Kyubey finally spoke, "You could say that a messenger of magic like me is a neutral party, but the truth is that my purpose is completely selfless and in the best interest of every living being. I'm merely performing this task that can only be performed in one way."

Sofia felt pangs of religious terror. She couldn't tell if this was some sort of temptation crafted by the devil itself, or a miracle sent from Heaven.

"On the other hand, witches are pure evil."

Maria put on the mask awkwardly as she exited her house through one of the windows in the top floor. It was dark outside, but there was something unnerving and unnatural about the blackness that covered the street.

The sky was pitch black: no stars and no orange glow from the city, like a giant void on top of her. The lights of the streets and the houses seemed to be absorbed by that deep darkness that seemed to grow with every passing second.

She could see that the streets were completely deserted as she maneuvered through the rooftops of her neighbors, following Claudia as well as she could. She tried to focus her mind away from the fear like she had done before and instead focus on her real objective, but then her eyes were assaulted with a grotesque vision.

A deformed blob of slimy black bile that slowly dragged through the street, swallowing everything on its way only to spit it out as it passed over it. Below the surface at times peeked corpse like faces, closely joined together, as if there were so many the blob was about to burst. Long limbs that resembled skeletal appendages came out at times, blindly grabbing at everything around them, trying to pick up on the scent of despair or magic.

"Listen up, I need you to pay attention, alright? One mistake and we're both goners." Claudia addressed Maria with a completely different attitude than before, as if trying to inspire confidence into her.

Maria nodded her head as Claudia continued , "I'm going to tear a hole into that thing, and we'll jump through before it closes up."

"A-and then what?"

"Once inside just follow me. No matter what you see, I need you to keep focused, alright?"

Sofia ran through the dark, empty streets as she carried Kyubey in her arms, following his instructions. The closer she got to Maria's location, the more she could tell that there was something terribly wrong happening to the world around her.

"You can see it, can't you?" Kyubey calmly spoke as he was carried, "Even if you can't see them directly, the witches' influence corrupts things wherever they go. Their mere presence makes the world a little darker, uglier."

"But why do they exist? Where did they come from?" she said through rapid gasps.

"Throughout the ages I've seen humanity, stared into its heart. And although you can find a lot of good, at the bottom of everything there seem to be only a blind drive to avoid death, and a voracious hunger for pleasure. The suffering that results from those two desires is what witches are."

"What?" Sofia stopped a moment, tired and shaken by the words of the bizarre creature "You're telling me that at the bottom of every person there's only that? That's impossible! Not everyone can be like that… there must be something more."

"Perhaps there is," Kyubey asserted, "Throughout all of history I've seen a struggle in your species. A fight between a voracious, greedy, brutal animal that can only think of itself, and a beautiful mind that wants to raise above all that animalistic filth, the old light versus dark that fascinates your people so much."

"I knew it!" Sofia took comfort in those words and kept running "It's all a big test. A decision between being a savage animal or a human…"

"In any case, that's the place witches come from, from the depths of the human heart. As long as people exist, so will the witches."

Sofia began speaking with a renewed enthusiasm, as if she had figured out a great mystery "But so will the people that stand against those creatures! The people that selflessly sacrifice their lives to protect humanity, isn't that right?"

"You know, not many people are willing to make a truly selfless wish."

"But they are there, even if it's not a lot of people, they are still-"

"Hold on!" Kyubey suddenly yelped "It's close, very close."

Sofia began wildly looking around, her enthusiasm defused by her sudden alarm. She could tell that the world around her was distorted, but she couldn't see what had alarmed Kyubey so much.

"It's slowly moving this way, maybe a couple of streets down, if you keep walking, you'll enter its barrier."

Sofia saw a couple of cars driving in the direction of the witch; she could distinctly make out the sleeping faces of a couple of children in the backseat of one of those cars.

"What happens to the people that pass through?"

"They'll never be able to tell something happened to them. Cluster witches look for weakened minds to plant seeds or to mark for death like it happened to Maria's father. People pass through them every day and they never notice, but they get worn out little by little until they are weak enough to be devoured or corrupted."

Kyubey jumped from Sofia's arms and began surveying the area. The cars disappeared in the distance as Sofia clutched with both of her trembling hands a small crucifix she carried hanging from a necklace.

"Where are Maria and the other girl?"

"They must already be inside, but I can't contact them."

Maria landed feet-first on a spongy green floor that leaked a pinkish substance with a strong, sweet smell. Around her the dark streets had been replaced with a chaotic landscape of bright lights that emanated from twisted led lights resembling those of a photography studio, and from the inside of ruined apartment complexes that repeated infinitely into the horizon. Above her lied a sunless blue sky with a few white clouds featuring twisted grimacing faces. Spider-like appendages began growing from those clouds, which begun approaching her.

For a moment Maria felt as if she had entered hell itself and was paralyzed by the bizarre, nightmarish spectacle. Claudia made her snap out of her trance with a harsh slap to the face.

"Come on! Follow me!"

They both fled into one of the ruined apartments. Inside they found only one room in the entire place: The room was painted with a shade of blue similar to the sky outside, as well as some lonely white clouds painted at irregular intervals. A series of lights similar to those outside were gathered around and pointing at a green carpet set in front of a hanging green curtain. On top of the carpet lied several bloodied children's toys as well as handcuffs, a branding iron and a ball gag.

"Jesus fucking Christ" Claudia muttered out loud as she stared at the scene. Her silent examination was abruptly interrupted by a monstrous entity that emerged from behind the green curtain.

It resembled a deformed, hairless ape with gray skin and a muscular build. Its entire body was covered by blood and the pink substance. It had no face but it made a shrill cry as it leaped at both of the girls.

Maria barely managed to raise her hands and summon her protective shields as Claudia ripped through the creature's head, left leg and torso with the bright red orbs she had summoned before. The creature fell backwards, immobile, dead.

"There's always something inside of the barriers that tells you exactly where you have to strike to put the witch out of its misery" Claudia said with a completely calm demeanor as she walked over the creature's ripped apart body and began analyzing the items on top the green carpet. "You see? The entire sob story of this thing is here, all you need is to think a little about it."

Maria looked at the carpet as well as the walls. She could see spiders crawling around on top of the clouds, and remembered the monstrous clouds outside. She remembered the long dark alleyways she had been running through when she fought Sandra and she finally understood what a witch barrier really was: a look into the horrendous last moments of a destroyed life.

"Usually, I'd say it's in those clouds out there, or maybe she's hiding in one of these apartments. But…"

She removed the carpet and revealed a great hole below. Several multicolor lights emanated from it and a faint cacophony could be heard.

"I'm afraid it won't be that easy."

Sofia slowly walked into the enveloping darkness with Kyubey, clutching her crucifix as she silently made a prayer.


	8. TERESA-SAMANTA-DIANA

The moment they hit the bottom, they were bombarded with colorful, intermittent lights that came from above as well as a blaring, quasi-rhythmic noise that almost resembled music. All around them, between the colorful flashes, they could make out barely human shapes moving about, completely black and featureless, like shadows.

Maria could tell Claudia had tried to tell her something, but the music entered their minds directly and made any kind of verbal communication impossible. She followed Claudia through the chaos, almost missing her several times inside the crowd of shadows, her shields up at all times, afraid of being caught by surprise.

Claudia stopped suddenly and pointed upwards before firing several bright red beams in quick succession. Before Maria could turn around to see what was going on, she was knocked down by two bird-like creatures, one of which had managed to bury its bright beak deep into her lower left side.

She couldn't hear her own screaming, as the creature tried to bury itself deeper inside of her, twisting violently as it did so. She grabbed it and began pulling it out of her side with all her strength, crushing the lower portion of its body in the process.

Before analyzing what was going on before her eyes, she made her shields appear with all their strength. Many of those creatures had launched themselves against her, but they crushed themselves, some were cut in half as the shield appeared out of thin air.

"Come on come on! Stand up!" She could finally hear Claudia's voice, who kept shooting down the creatures relentlessly "It won't hurt if you focus on keeping alive!"

Maria slowly stood up. Indeed, her fear of dying was much greater than the pain, which by that point had begun slowly dissipating. As she stood up and continued following Claudia, she could feel the blood pouring abundantly from the wound, as well as the injured and torn muscle tissue hanging limply.

She noticed Claudia had a gash all along the left side of her face through which her teeth could be seen, but her eyes reflected nothing more than a quiet determination to see things through. Even though it deeply unsettled and horrified her, for the first time the inhuman nature of her own physiology made her feel confident.

A larger, monstrous looking bird creature suddenly landed in front of her, cutting her off from Claudia. The creature was at least twice her size, and its wingspan made it look truly massive. Colorful light emanated from its cruel beak and from several orifices all along its featherless body.

Without thinking twice, Maria held both of her hands in front of her and summoned her shield, she was so close to the creature that it actually cut through its beak, making it emit a shrill cry that eclipsed the grating music, but she wasn't afraid.

Instead of fear, all Maria could feel was an overwhelming desire to get through the monstrosity in front of her. She looked straight into the white voids were its eyes should be, somehow she could tell there was nothing but hatred inside. In a moment, the eyes of the man who had kidnapped came to mind, so filled with hate, and then, her shields were launched forward with an incredible force that practically made the hellish creature explode in a mass of gore.

She stood dumbstruck for a moment as she was showered with bits of the creature. Claudia had surrounded herself with spinning orbs that cut through anything they touched as she kept firing in every direction at the bright birds.

Maria noticed that the room had grown considerably darker and much quieter. Now, through the shifting shadows, she could make out faint white lights coming through what apparently were door frames.

"What a big help you are!" Claudia said angrily after she had finished off the creatures by herself, "You see those light in the distance, yes? That's where we gotta go."

"What's behind those doors?" Maria inquired as they both headed to one of the doors, trying to ignore Claudia's mangled face.

"Fuck if I know, hopefully the last barrier."

Now that she could appreciate the scenery better, Maria could see that the floor was covered by powder as well as broken glasses. Despite the silence and the darkness, the shadows continued moving about, seemingly following the nonexistent rhythm of the song.

They finally reached the metallic double door, resembling an emergency exit. Claudia stood behind Maria and put a hand over her shoulder while she stretched the other one, summoning a tiny orb on her fingertip.

"Okay, this is what we're going to do: You'll open the door, bring up your shields, and I'll blast whatever the hell is behind it with this, sounds good?"

"Well um—"

Claudia pushed Maria against the door, which opened with ease. Maria brought up her shield at the same time Claudia fired a beam that punctured a tiny hole through it, however, the room was completely devoid of any creatures.

Despite the white glow that came from behind it before, there were only low purple lights. A series of couches were arranged around a pole dance table. The room had soft music playing in a low volume; however, there seemed to be nothing of value or note.

"What do we do now?" Maria said with concern "It's a dead end, isn't it? I think we should check the other doors."

"No, most likely they all lead to this same room" Claudia continued as she meticulously analyzed the surroundings "Like I said, you have to figure out what happened here, what was the straw that broke the camels' back, so to speak…you really need to start flexing that thinking muscle or you won't make it through the month."

Maria couldn't avoid staring in utter disbelief at Claudia's still bleeding ripped cheek, she could even see her tongue moving through her teeth as she let herself be absorbed in thought. Suddenly, Maria heard Kyubey's familiar voice ring inside of her head.

"Maria, is everything alright? Is Claudia with you?"

"Yes, she's here with me. Do you want me to tell her som-"

"Sofia entered the witches' barrier with me, we're headed to your location."

"You what?!" She almost said it out loud.

"Listen, you have to be extra careful from this point onward. This might be your one and only chance to set things right, you understand what I'm saying?"

"You mean…"

"She's come so far, all she needs is one final push and she'll make the wish you want."

"But, what do you want me to do?"

"You and Claudia will soon reach last barrier and there you'll fight the witches directly. She's extremely skilled so I don't think you'll have any issues defeating them. That's where you have to intervene…"

"Found it!" Claudia said triumphantly as she picked up a glass with a strange black substance that had some ice cubes floating inside, "Pay attention to this, the key is not always as obvious, neither is the way to use it. Look at those little cubes floating in that black goo, do you see what I see?"

Maria squinted as she tried to make out the tiny figures encased inside of the cubes, inside some of them there seemed to be tiny people inside, while in others pieces of the room's layout could be seen, as well as the bird creatures from outside and a tiny female figure wearing a tattered, dirty dress.

"If this were a normal barrier, the witch would be here; maybe she'd be inside one of those tiny cubes, in pieces or something, floating in this disgusting goo."

As she finished saying those words, she threw the glass against one of the walls. The liquid adhered to the wall and expanded, opening a dark rift that lead to a mirrored version of the same room, except completely covered in the dark liquid.

"How did you know that would work?" Maria exclaimed completely flabbergasted.

"Being inside these places is like being in a nightmare. Even though everything seems to be completely chaotic, there's some sort of underlying logic to things. All those things floating in there could only mean something like contempt or fear, only kept inside by a fragile container… what I'm trying to say is, sometimes you just have to take a wild guess."

As they both stepped through the hole on the wall, Maria couldn't stop thinking about her friend, risking her life with all the horrifying creatures she had encountered before. She thought that maybe that was Kyubey's plan; forcing her into terrible danger and making her accept the contract. Her heart started racing and her mind was consumed by frightful thoughts and visions.

Despite the bleak circumstances, despite the painful looking wound she sported, Claudia looked so courageous, so capable that Maria thought of telling her about Sofia and asking her for help. However, Kyubey's words had deeply ingrained into her mind, reminding her of her original goal.

"Okay, you know how this goes: you open the door and I blast them, got it?"

"Yes!" Maria replied abruptly as her mind switched gears and she raised her hands.

They opened the door to a long and deserted hospital hallway; it was brightly lit up until a point where light simply stopped. On one side the big windows allowed a view of a ghostly night sky, with a white full moon shining brightly above a dark city; on the other, the closed doors that lead to the hospital rooms. Maria was analyzing the surroundings when Claudia began speaking softly.

"Don't freak out, just keep the shields up."

In front of them, from the darkness at the end of the hallway, two tiny dots of light shone brightly, then several more pairs.

"There they are. We got this, just—"

All the lights in the hallways went off at the same time, and the bright dots sped through it, smashing into Maria's shields and breaking them, sending both girls to the ground.

The hallway was violently lit up by red beams of light as well as a pink aura. They were separated from each other, Maria ending up directly behind the bloated, dragging creature; it was hooked to medical equipment that had been grafted directly into its skin and it spewed liquid from different tubes. A pair of black crippled wings grew out of its back like a malformed parasitic twin while a pair of arms that grew out of its malformed chest cradled a smaller creature; the other pair of arms were massive, tumor like growths that had smashed Maria's shields with ease. It had no face, but instead was covered by a large amount of bright white holes that peeked through a mass of bloated flesh.

Several beams pierced through it, but despite missing large chunks of its flesh, it didn't slow down its relentless, quick attacks. In a matter of minutes the walls of the hospital rooms had been broken down and Maria was sent flying into one of those rooms with a mighty blow. In every bed of the room, a slab of malformed pulsating meat was grafted to medical equipment.

Claudia kept dodging the attacks with amazing skill, stopping at every chance she had to fire more of her beams, or let the orbs spinning around her damage the grotesque creature.

"You reached the witches, didn't you?!" Kyubey's voice sounded once again.

"Y-yes…"

"Hold on a little longer, don't let Claudia kill it!"

Like a skilled gymnast, Claudia managed to dodge every blow the creature sent her way, all the while taking away more and more chunks of its flesh until finally one of its massive arms was completely severed.

"Come on! Give me a hand, this thing is almost done for!" Claudia shouted with gusto, completely sure of her victory.

Maria quickly picked up on the fact that whatever the creature was carrying in the smaller pair of arms was its weak point, and if Claudia managed to pierce it through then it would be over. Whatever Kyubey's plan was, she had to make sure it worked.

Before Claudia could deal the final blow to the creature and before she had any time to react, she was blasted through one of the windows by Maria's shields, sent flying into the dark abyss that existed outside of the hospital walls. The creature staggered as Claudia fell into the darkness, unable to tell what had happened.

Maria let out a loud gasp as she realized what she had just done, but despite her almost immediate regret there was nothing left to do, all alone.

She called Kyubey with desperation, but there was no reply. Her trembling hands held in front of her, the shield shinning inside the dark room, she could feel a couple of tears rolling down her cheeks.

The creature stood in place for a moment and turned to look at Maria. For a moment it looked peaceful, Maria almost mistook it for gratefulness. However, in a moment it leapt forward landed just a few inches away from her. She had barely dodged the blow, falling to the floor, and before she had time to stand up or move, the creature had once again raised its monstrous arm. It slammed into the left side of her pelvis, breaking it and her left leg.

She let out a scream of pain and terror before summoning her shield again. It cracked after the first hit and she knew it would break the moment the creature hit her again. As she lay helplessly on the floor, all she could do in that moment was let out an agonizing scream for help.

"Kyubey!"

The shield broke and the hit landed directly on her stomach, crushing it into mush. Her spine broke and her lower extremities became fully detached from her body. She let out a loud grunt and then a stream of blood, the pain numbed her sense almost instantly, right after the initial shock.

For a moment she stared at the dark ceiling behind the creature's unfeeling eyes, she couldn't move and she didn't have any drive to do so. Her soul gem slowly rolled over to the side of her head, one more time almost completely blackened, but she didn't care. Her brain wasn't working right anymore, she didn't even register the creature raising its arm one more time, ready to smash her chest or her head.

Random snapshots of her life began running through her mind. She remembered what life was like before her mother was killed, before she saw what a truly hopeless and terrifying place the world really was, before she had become a slave to a creature she didn't understand. Ever since that horrible day, ever since she stared into the eyes of evil, her life had turned into nothing short of a nightmare, day after day tortured by a bleak and asphyxiating world that had nothing left for her. Her mother was dead, she would be dead soon, and her father wouldn't take long to join them. Maybe this was the best outcome she could hope for.

She closed her eyes and thought of her family.


End file.
